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The Shop
The most coveted ad space in a mag is the back cover, then followed closely by the first two pages inside the front cover. While I have no first hand info, I would purely guess that those pages became available and the company willing to pay the most got them. An ad right before Jody's Box isn't there because they are cutting Jody a check for zillions of dollars every month, the ad has always, and will always, be there. Thankfully for KTM they are getting a premium spot for consumers to view their marketing, while the check KTM cuts each month thankfully helps to keep MXA open and more people employed in our sport.
To boil it down, just because you see ads in a mag does not mean their reviews/shootouts have been affected. In some companies, sure, but not in all. Remember the days back when Suzi pulled their MXA ads and wouldn't give them a bike for a shootout? I would trust MXA more than any other mx mag when it comes to truthful testing, but that is just my opinion.
Thank you ML and Vital for the excellent shootout content.
If a person is a KTM fan, then go to MXA for all your mx/sx news.
Comparable to, if you're a Trump hater, then go watch CNN, or any NBC affiliate
Vital mx seems the most neutral as far as testing because they are consciously trying to be objective. They aren't picking to satisfy the forum fan base, being because of the overall vitard-ness we are.
The way Vital, Keefer or even TWMX (to a certain point) are doing their shootout are much more revelant. You can read review from all different riders and can relate your riding/age/weight to your situation.
btw I'm still subscribed to MXA after 10 years. I still enjoy most of the contents but at a certain point you need to stop beeing grumpy or nostalgic and move on.
Of all the majors KTM continues to push development. and are doing it every year.
Do you think the others would have advanced their tech had it not been for a little
market share company (KTM) dominating in the development. The whole market has
benefited from KTM. Who would have thunk, a company that spend a shit ton of
money to better their product might spend a shit ton of money on advertising? What a
novel idea? As far as where they spend it, my guess is MXA has an older demographic
which is more likely to buy the KTM. Hmm more bang for you buck?
TM
The thing that bugs me about the way they do things is them considering themselves the authority on all things moto while having a tabloid style/online presence. I believe if you want to be taken seriously, stop with the click bait and hyperbole headlines.
Pit Row
I basically help do what MXA and loads of others like Vital do (reviews, shootouts), but in another industry. Our biggest advertiser constantly gets attacked because they are a big company that spends a shit ton on advertising. Recently, that company won one of our shootouts and the anonymous masses went freak'n berserk. The big company won our shootout strictly on merit, yet most of our readers went off on us saying "they paid for the win!!!!". That wasn't the case for us at all, the company in question didn't give us a penny for the shootout, nor did they even call/email asking for the win. They sent us their product, we put it in the shootout, and it simply outperformed its competition when using our test criteria.
That same scenario is certainly possible with MXA. While Jody certainly has his preferences, he has never struck me as the type of person that would award a shootout win in return for a check.
What I am saying is, just because a company spends more than anyone else on marketing, does not mean they are paying for shootout wins.
As far as KTM making the other companies raise the bar, that is true. But, you could also say they had to raise the bar themselves to make a bike capable of competing in the US market. You could also argue that by doing that they are driving up bike prices. Maybe the Japanese wanted to keep development to a minimum to try to keep cost down for long term sustainability. Just some thoughts.
Only a Pro would care.
Us mortals, pick:
estart? Yes or No
Favorite Color
Its even easier for me as I am uber brand loyal to Honda. It doesnt matter what anybody else does, I will always buy the Honda.
Just saying
I'd really like to know why you think the KTM has no shot at being the best bike?
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